The Last CyberChase
by bri.rebelwithoutacause
Summary: Post-season 8. Matt, Jackie, Inez and Digit knew what was at stake if they lost the Radopolis rematch. They just didn't think they would ever actually have to pay the price. When they lose, Hacker gains control over Radopolis... and one of the Cybersquad. The loss weighs heavily on everyone involved.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first Fanfic ever and pretty much my first time writing something that isn't for school, so bear with me. I do not own PBS, Cyberchase, or any of it's characters.**

* * *

"We lost! I can't believe we lost!" said nine year-old Inez with disbelief. She sat down on a nearby bench and put her head in her hands, looking as though she might cry.

"Oh! My! Gosh! How did we lose?! We never lose!" Inez's eleven year-old friend Jackie yelled at nobody in particular. She started to frantically pace back and forth, all the while muttering to herself.

Meanwhile, a red-headed boy the same age as Jackie ran up to where the two girls were.

"Matt!" Jackie yelled as the boy neared her. "What are we going to do?!" she shouted at him while frenziedly shaking him.

"Jaks, calm down! We'll figure this out. Why don't we start by calling Motherboard?" Matt suggested as he wrestled himself out of Jackie's panicked grasp.

"Why didn't I think of that?!" Jackie said hitting her palm on her forehead. Her mood seemed to be brightening a little.

Matt pulled out his blue Squawk Pad and called up Motherboard. When her face appeared on the screen, Matt and Jackie took turns explaining the situation. Inez was still shocked to speak.

"Well...it seems that...since you made a bet with Hacker," started Motherboard with difficulty. She'd had trouble with speech ever since Hacker gave her the virus. "Then he is... in the right... he gets to keep Radopolis...and Inez."

Though they had known this was the case, the three of them had still hoped that Motherboard would be able to do something to change it.

"Mother-B! You've got to do something!" Jackie pleaded; desperate to help her friend.

"I am... so sorry... there is... nothing I can do," she said mournfully. "Where is... Digit?"

Matt hadn't thought about Digit since the end of the contest. He felt like everything was happening in slow motion and nothing was making any sense. He looked around for Digit and saw him sitting next to Inez on the bench. Digit seemed to be trying to comfort her; he had a wing around her shoulder. She looked so young. Too young to be dealing with something this horrible. In fact, they were all too young for this. Too young to be fighting evil and defending a world that wasn't even their own. Too young to have everything depending on them. Too young to play a game where all the stakes were real and permanent. It was shame that it had taken Matt so long to realize this. A shame, that it took this tragedy for him to see it.

Turning back to the Squawk Pad, Matt told Motherboard: "He's sitting with Inez"

Motherboard looked sad, like she was bogged down by something upsetting. Matt wondered what could possibly be worse than what was playing out right now. Motherboard looked to Matt. "I would like to speak with him."

Matt and Jackie brought the device over to Digit. "She wants to talk to you," Jackie said, pointing to Motherboard's placid face that was still glowing on the screen.

Digit got up from the bench slowly and took the Squawk Pad from Matt. Inez was still sitting with her head in her hands so Jackie and Matt each sat down beside her. Jackie put one arm around Inez's shoulder and held Inez's hand with her other. Matt followed suit, holding her hand tightly. At first, he felt a little awkward because she was a girl and he hadn't ever held a girl's hand for more than a few seconds, but he quickly pushed that feeling aside; it was clear that Inez needed both of them right now.

Digit returned from wherever he gone off to, in order to speak with Motherboard in private. Now Digit also had that same sad, melancholy look in his eyes. Matt was starting to feel like something even worse was going to happen.

"What's up Didge? You look upset," Jackie asked, concerned.

"Motherboard says you have to go back," Digit said.

"What do you mean?" he asked, the concern obvious in his voice.

Digit was silent for a moment, as though he was considering his words very carefully. "She wants you and Jackie to leave Cyberspace...forever."

"What! Why?" Jackie demanded, her voice beginning to rise into hysterics again.

"She doesn't want you two to get hurt. She said she doesn't want to lose you too and she thinks you'll be safer in your own world." Digit was clearly as upset by this as the kids were, but he thought to himself: _Maybe it's for the best. Without Inez, the other two don't stand much of chance at beating Hacker._

"What about Inez?" Matt asked, looking over at his distressed friend. _What was going to happen to her?_

"Motherboard already explained that..." Digit said. "Inez has to stay in Cyberspace with Hacker; there's nothing we can do about it."

At this, having not heard it said earlier, Inez finally broke her steely silence with a rush of sobbing. Jackie held her closer, "Shh, shh...it's going to be alright, it's going to be okay." She looked away from Inez and up at Digit and Matt, defeat in her eyes. Behind them, she saw Hacker approaching, Buzz and Delete bumbling up behind him.

"Hello kiddies! I'm here to claim my prize," Hacker said, his voice dripping with a sick delight.

"Hacker!" Matt said whirling around, startled by the green borg's sudden appearance. "You can't have her! We're not going to let you!" He shouted. Clearly he was the only one of the Cybersquad that hadn't yet given up hope.

"That's THE Hacker to you!" Hacker told him. "And...you have to, that was the deal. We agreed that if I won this rematch, then I win control of Radopolis and Inez. We had a deal. Motherboard wouldn't want you to break a deal...now would she?" He smiled sinisterly down at the kids. He knew he had them beaten.

Matt was silent. He started running through all their options in his head. Before he could come with a sensible plan, Inez got up from the bench. Matt looked up at her. She was no longer crying, but there were very visible tears still brimming at the corners of her dark brown eyes. She swiftly wiped them from her eyes before taking a step toward Hacker.

"Fine, Hacker," She said with a sigh; the will had gone out of her. "I'll go with you. Just let me say goodbye to my friends. Please?" She looked up at him pleadingly.

Hacker was shocked by the sudden surrender of one of the willful "Earth brats" that had been the bane of his existence for almost a year. He looked down at Inez, trying to figure out if this could possibly be some sort of trick. But what he saw was a child broken by defeat. She no longer looked threatening to him. He glanced over at Digit and the other two children; they all appeared to be in the same sorry state. Matt was still fuming, but in the way one does when the world has screwed them over and there's nothing they can do about it. Hacker had finally done it, he thought with a smirk; he had finally defeated the dreaded Cybersquad. They were broken and he would make sure they stayed that way. He didn't see why he couldn't let them have their goodbyes. It would only serve to sadden them more. It would be the last time they would ever be together; Hacker would make sure of it.

"Okay, but I'm staying right here," Hacker said, giving permission to the young Earth girl. The thought of her needing his permission made thrilled him. He now had one of Motherboard's coveted "Earthlies" under his control. He was going to enjoy every moment of this farewell.

Inez turned around to face her friends. Even though they'd known each other for less than a year, they'd become very close through the act of protecting Cyberspace. _I guess that's all over now,_ she thought. She was going to live out the rest of her life with Hacker and there was nothing she, Motherboard or the rest of the gang could do to stop it.

"Inez," Matt whispered, feeling awkward that Hacker was leering over them, enjoying himself. _What a sicko, _he thought. "You can't just give yourself up to Hacker. Think about everything he's done to Cyberspace... to Motherboard... to us!" Matt almost shouted as his anger increased.

"I know Matt, but I've got to do this. A deal's, a deal," Inez said sadly.

"Why do we have to keep our promise; Hacker never keeps his," Matt said, trying vainly to convince Inez to not give up so easily.

"That's what makes us the good guys," She said quietly.

"Well, it's stupid," Matt responded angrily.

Inez laughed briefly, almost inaudibly. "Yeah, sort of is, isn't it," she said, tears completely blurring her vision. She blinked them away and leaned in to give Matt a hug. Some of her tears fell on his neck as she silently sobbed into his shoulder. After a few seconds, once she'd finished crying, she released Matt and hugged Digit. Then she turned and gave Jackie a hug too. She turned back to Digit.

"Make sure Matt and Jackie get home safely," she told him. She didn't want Hacker to get his hands on them too.

"Will do, Inez," Digit said slowly and sadly. "You know that Motherboard said that they can't come back, right?" he asked her quietly. Hacker smiled evilly at this. _This is getting better and better, _he thought._ Now all three Earth brats will be out of my way for good._

"Yeah, I heard you talking about it with Matt and Jackie." The heartbreak in Inez's voice as she said this was unbearable. Except to Hacker.

Inez turned to Matt and Jackie. "And guys, if my parents ever ask you what happened to me, please don't tell them."

Jackie looked surprised, until just then, it hadn't occurred to her that it would be more than just the three of them that would miss Inez. Inez's family would have to wonder why she simply didn't come home one night. _How horrible!_

"Don't you think they'd want to know that you're okay? That you're not dead in a ditch somewhere?" Jackie asked, confused.

"I'm not really okay though, am I?" Inez answered, a touch of fear in her voice. "Besides, it wouldn't do them any good to know that I'm being held captive in another world that they could never reach. Maybe it's better if they just think I'm dead. I might as well be to them" _And to us too. _Jackie thought darkly.

"I guess you're right," Jackie answered sadly. "Okay, we won't tell them." She gave Inez another quick hug followed by Matt and Digit. They all said goodbye to Inez.

Digit pulled out his Squawk Pad to call Motherboard. A portal appeared. As Jackie and Digit stepped through it, they waved goodbye to Inez one last time.

Before he climbed through it, Matt looked back at Inez and quietly said "Goodbye Nezzie." He knew she didn't like being called that, but he couldn't help himself. She didn't get angry, but only replied with a simple: "Goodbye Matt." He waved to her as he climbed through the portal and disappeared. Inez waved back and didn't stop until the pink circle had faded into nothing.

As soon as it was gone, Hacker harshly told Inez to follow him and grabbed her roughly by the shoulder of her shirt. He threw the poor girl to Buzz and Delete, who had been standing quietly off to the side through all of this. He told them to hold onto to her as they walked to the Grim Wreaker. _My new home, _Inez thought coldly as they boarded the ship in silence.


	2. Chapter 2

Hacker boarded the Grim Wreaker first, followed by a solemn Inez being held between Buzz and Delete. The trio followed Hacker down numerous hallways and down several flights of stairs. _Wow, _Inez thought. _It's almost like a maze. _It never ceased to amaze her how large the Grim Wreaker was. After what seemed like forever, Hacker stopped in front of an unmarked door. Inez's heart quickened, she felt sure that Buzz and Delete could hear it almost beating out of her chest. The thought of what might lay beyond the door terrified her. But, when Hacker opened it, it turned out to just be the same dungeon that she and the others had been stuck in before, back during one of Hacker's other "take over Cyberspace" schemes. She had been so panicked that she hadn't recognized it.

Hacker motioned for her to enter the small cell. She looked him straight in the eyes, bravely she hoped, and took a step forward. When they felt her move toward the door, Buzz and Delete released her. Hacker smiled wickedly at her as she passed him to enter the room.

"This is where you will be staying until I find more permanent place for you." He said with an evil grin. Inez shivered. She wasn't sure she wanted to know what he meant by that.

He started to close the door, but before he had finished he remembered something. He looked at the small girl standing just inside the doorway. "Give it to me." He told her.

Inez didn't know what he was talking about. "What?" She said, confused.

"Give me your Squawk Pad." He said plainly. For him this was just another thing to be checked off his list. For Inez, it represented relinquishing the last bit of her freedom.

She pulled the pulled the device out of her pocket and handed it to him. Now she was truly alone; with no way to contact Motherboard or the guys. She wondered if Motherboard had let Matt and Jackie keep theirs. But she would have had no reason to; because Matt and Jackie were never returning to Cyberspace.

Once the Squawk Pad was in his hand, Hacker promptly shut the door in Inez's face. Leaving her alone in the dark cell.

* * *

The bedroom glowed a faint pink as two kids shot out of a swirling circle in the middle of a computer screen. Jackie landed softly on the bed, while Matt landed on the hard floor at foot of it.

Matt looked around the room. It was Jackie's bedroom and it was done up like a typical eleven year-old girl's room; with lots of posters of tween boy bands and Disney stars. Jackie was such a stereotypical girl; Matt found it almost revolting. Inez wasn't anything like that. _Inez! _Once again, it hit Matt that he would never see his friend again.

Before they went to Cyberspace this time, Jackie had invited Matt and Inez to her house to hang out. They had been talking and laughing when they got message from Motherboard. She had told them that the gang was needed in Cyberspace because Hacker was wreaking havoc in Radopolis again, trying to crown himself king. They had dealt with a similar incident almost eight months ago. That time they had gotten him to return the crown by beating him in a skate-off. Jackie and Inez hadn't been very experienced with blading or cycling, but they had agreed because, apparently that was how things were settled on that cybersite. They had won, but barely.

This time when the kids and Digit landed on Radopolis, Hacker seemed to be waiting for them. It was strange, like he had wanted them to show up. _I guess he had._ Matt, thought retrospectively. _Too bad we didn't know that then._

The Cybersquad had demanded that Hacker give the crown back to the rightful king but he, in turn, requested a rematch of the contest that the kids had won before. At first, Digit and the kids were wary, but Hacker egged them on until the kids' pride got the better of them. They made a deal with Hacker that if they won he would leave Radopolis alone and give back the crown. If won Hacker won, he would get to keep the crown and the cybersite connected to it. With the stakes agreed on, they started the first round of the contest.

On Cybersquad's team, they had Matt on a skateboard, Inez on skates and Jackie on a bike. Hacker had Buzz riding the board and Delete on a bike. Hacker himself was on roller-skates. Matt and Buzz went first and Matt creamed him. Buzz only get three points to Matt's nine.

After this first round, Hacker approached the kids and asked them how it was that they had beaten Buzz so easily. "I guess we're just better." Matt had said arrogantly. This upset Hacker and he demanded that they up the stakes. The kids asked him what he had in mind.

He told them that if they were so sure that they would win, than they shouldn't mind offering up Inez... if he offered the encryptor chip that was essential to healing Motherboard.

The group was very wary of this suggestion. Digit didn't want to go for it because he thought Hacker had been up to something. _And he was right! We should have listened to him! _Matt thought as he ran this all through in his head. He hated himself for getting tricked by Hacker and losing Nezzie.

Jackie and Inez were initially cautious about the bet, but eventually Matt convinced them that the encryptor chip was worth it. "And besides," He had told them confidently. "There's no way we can lose. Have you seen their team?"

_But we did lose, we lost everything. _Matt felt as all that had happened after that had been his fault because he had pushed the girls into it.

As soon as they had agreed to it, Hacker left them and went to talk to the referee. After a short conversation, the referee announced: "Team Hacker will be swapping out the remaining two team members for new ones."

Two new borgs walked up as the referee was saying this. They went straight to Hacker and one stood on each side of him. None of kids recognized them, but Digit did.

"Those are the best biker and best rollerblader in all of Cyberspace!" He squawked, whipping himself into a little bit of a frenzy. The kids exchanged looks of panic. They realized that they had been tricked. And now Jackie and Inez had to compete against the best blader and biker in that universe. They had risked it all, against the most dishonest person in Cyberchase. They should have bet instead that Hacker would never, ever play fair.

Jackie had been the first to go after the change in Hacker's team line-up. She hadn't stood a chance. She had gotten a respectable five, but the other guy was so good that judges felt the need to give him a ten **and** add two points to Buzz's pathetic score in order to accommodate for the professional biker's talents. This meant the Earthlies were losing by one point. Not far behind, but they still had one round to go and it pitted their worst skater, Inez, against Cyberspace's best. They had already lost.

_Although, we did get close. _Matt thought, almost smugly. In the end Inez managed an incredible eight points. She was so determined not to lose her freedom to Hacker that she had tried harder than she had ever tried for anything in her entire life. But, it wasn't enough. The other team got another ten and had won by a measly three points.

_We still lost; that's all that matters. We lost and Inez is who knows where in Cyberspace with Hacker. And there's no way we can ever get her back. _Matt had run through all of this in his head numerous times and kept coming to the same conclusion: Inez was gone. Period.

At this point, Jackie got tired of watching Matt sit silently on the bedroom floor and she gently put her hand on his shoulder. The touch set something off in him and he began to sob uncontrollably. Jackie brought him into a hug and they sat there on the floor and cried together for what felt like an eternity.

* * *

Hacker walked into his office on the Grim Wreaker and sat down at the elaborate desk in the middle of the room. The office was quite bare and only housed the desk, two futuristic-looking purple chairs with plump cushions and several egotistical photographs of Hacker himself that were hanging on the walls.

He unlocked one of the desk drawers using a key that he retrieved from breast pocket. He put the Squawk Pad that he had taken from Inez into the bottom of the drawer. On the way his office, Hacker had tried in vain to work it, but couldn't even manage to turn it on.

Even if he couldn't work the device, he enjoyed having it in his possession; it was a trophy that represented his victory over the Earth brats. _Well, that and the girl. _Hacker thought maliciously to himself. Though, he still had not figured out exactly what he would do with her; he hadn't really this far ahead since his plans had never worked before in the past.

He shut the drawer, locked it up and returned the key to his pocket. He turned to a small monitor on the left hand side of his desk and booted it up. Slowly the image of the Earth girl began to appear on his screen. She was sitting on the bed in the cell he had placed her in. There wasn't any sound on the live security footage, but it appeared to Hacker that the girl was crying because she kept bringing her hands up to wipe her eyes.

Hacker, for the first time, seemed to realize exactly how young the girl really was. He hadn't really noticed before because she and the other two had been so instrumental in defeating him in the past. He now saw that she was actually quite weak and sensitive. She couldn't handle the burden that Motherboard had selfishly placed on her and her friends.

He wondered if she would grow resentful of the motherly ruler, for interfering in her safe, normal life. Hacker continued to watch the girl on the screen as he contemplated what he was going to do with his new prize.

* * *

It was dim in the small cell; but despite that, Inez strained her eyes to look around her. There wasn't much to see. She stood in front of the door as her eyes swept across her surroundings. Against the right hand wall there was a small bed with a thin mattress and an even thinner blanket and pillow. On the left and back wall were a four sets of wrist shackles; two pairs to each wall. She cringed at the sight of them; they reminded her of where she was. Behind her was the door, with two closed slats that could only be opened from the outside (she had briefly tried to budge them). One slat was in the upper half of the door which would allow someone to look into the cell if they cared to. The other was at the very bottom and Inez assumed that this was used to place a prisoner's food into the cell without having to open the door. Suddenly, it struck her once again that it was _she_ who was the captive in this prison and that Hacker was her warden. At this thought she could no longer bare to stand. She stumbled a short way and ended up in a sitting position on the bed. She began to cry quietly, wiping at her eyes every so often at the tears that refused to cease.

* * *

Jackie and Matt were still crying, encased in each other's understanding arms, when they both heard the sound of someone climbing the stairs to the second floor. They quickly tried to cover up the meltdown they were having over the loss of Inez. Matt furiously wiped at the lingering tears in his eyes, sprang off the floor and promptly sat down on the edge of Jackie's well-made bed. Jackie also got up off the floor, trying to remove any sign of moisture from her eyes. She swiftly pulled the chair from the desk over to the bed in order to sit opposite of Matt.

Mere moments after she sat down, the door opened. Her mother stepped into the room and looked at the two children.

"Why's it so quiet in here?" She asked curiously. Jackie was always so loud and rambunctious when she had her friends over. Usually you would be able to hear their laughter from the neighbor's house. Looking around the room, the mother noticed something missing. "Where's Inez?"

Matt and Jackie glanced, almost imperceptibly, at each other before Jackie answered. "She left a little bit ago. I think she said she needed to go to the library or something before it closed." Jackie hated lying to her mom, but Inez had made it very clear that she didn't want anyone to know what had happened to her. Jackie felt sad about the fact that this would only be the first lie in a lifetime of covering up what had happened to her close friend.

"When did she leave?" Her mother asked confused and a bit put off by how silent the two were. It was almost as if something terrible had happened in the last twenty minutes since she had last checked in on them.

Again Jackie glanced away from her mother for a moment, this time at the digital clock on her nightstand, before answering. "I think it was, like, ten minutes ago." The girl seemed on edge, but her mother couldn't think of any reason why.

The mother began to leave, stopping in the doorway when she remembered something. Turning around she said: "Oh, and Matt? You're mom said she's coming to pick you up in about an hour, okay?" Matt nodded yes, and Jackie's mother left, leaving the door wide open.

Jackie listened as her mother's footsteps became fainter and fainter until she couldn't hear them at all. As soon as it was perfectly silent, she got up and slowly closed the door so that it wouldn't make a sound.

Without saying anything, the two looked over at Jackie's alarm clock together. The digital display read 5:34; it had barely been fifteen minutes, on Earth, since Motherboard had called and asked them for help with Hacker. Since Cyberspace worked on a different time frame from Earth, they had been able to spend almost an entire day there, without any time passing in their home universe. They both wondered how much time had passed in Cyberspace in the minutes that they had be silently grieving in Jackie's room. And how much Inez had endured in that time.

Jackie got up off the chair, walked over to the clock and set the alarm for forty-five minutes later. She wanted them to be able to grieve for Inez a little longer before Matt's mom can to get him. She left time for them clean themselves up when they were done crying. They couldn't have their parents thinking that anything was wrong. They had to keep this a secret. For Inez.

Jackie sat down next to Matt on the bed and started to cry into his shoulder. He wasn't much, but he was all she had to help her get through this. He was the only one who knew the truth. To the rest of the world, she would have to pretend that nothing strange had ever happened.

While Jackie sobbed uncontrollably in Matt's arms, he was silent. He was all out of tears. He just stared off into space...trying to think of only happy memories of his lost friend and not of their last bit of time together. Trying not think of their goodbyes, when she had looked so young...and broken...and vulnerable...and scared.

One last tear escaped his eyes as tried to shut the door on this chapter of his life; forever.


	3. Chapter 3

**Sorry that it has taken me so long to upload the third chapter. Life keeps getting the way of writing. Hopefully, it won't take quite so long to upload the next edition.**

* * *

Matt and Jackie spent much of the following six years trying not to think about Inez. For the most part, they were successful. Every so often though, they would be hit by a fresh wave of grief. When this would happen, they would help each other through it; remembering the good times and ignoring the bad. They tried not to consider "what-ifs" regarding that life-changing day and refused to think about Inez's existence with Hacker. They only thought about her in the past tense, as though she were dead, instead of lost to an unreachable, alternate universe.

It hadn't taken long for Inez's parents to realize that she was missing. When she hadn't come home in time for dinner, her parents didn't think much of it. She often stayed late at Matt's or Jackie's house and sometimes forgot to call. Inez's parents phoned the parents of Jackie and Matt, but were shocked to find that nobody had seen Inez in hours.

Inez's dad immediately called the police, while her mom drove around frantically looking for her. Matt and Jackie both felt bad about not telling Inez's parents where their daughter was, but they had promised Inez that they wouldn't. And it wasn't as though revealing Inez's whereabouts would have lessened their suffering. They still wouldn't have been able to get her back and they probably wouldn't have even believed the two eleven-year-olds.

The following day, local law enforcement launched an investigation and a county-wide manhunt for the missing girl. The police interviewed everyone who was close to her, including Matt and Jackie. They had been Inez's best friends and the last ones to see her before she disappeared. The two kids didn't like talking to the police, but they cooperated because they didn't want to draw any suspicion to themselves.

They were questioned several times by the cops in the weeks following the disappearance. The two of them maintained that they hadn't seen Inez since she left Jackie's house to visit the library. Eventually, the police stopped calling on the three families and things quieted down. The case was shelved and everyone gave the missing girl up for dead.

After about a year, Inez's family moved away. Her mother had been unable to bear seeing the sight of her daughter's empty, untouched room every day. With her family gone, it became easier for Matt and Jackie to forget. But only slightly.

* * *

Years passed and Matt and Jackie's lives went on as normal. They went to school, did homework, hung out with friends and lived their lives. Six years after what Jackie and Matt had begun calling "The Incident", the two had were normal high school juniors and had been going out together since their freshman year. This was a relationship that largely came out of how dependent the two had become of each other in the wake of their loss of Inez.

One day, during the end of that April, Matt and Jackie were walking home from school. It was starting to feel like the first day of spring after a long winter. Neither of them had worn their winter coats that day and they were enjoying the nice, warm weather.

"Why don't we go to my house today?" Jackie suggested. Matt thought this was strange. They hadn't gone to her house since "The Incident" because it had always felt wrong to be there, just the two of them. He wondered if this was a sign that his girlfriend was finally getting over what had happened over six years ago. This filled him with hope. _It's about time Cyberspace stopped ruling our lives, _he thought to himself.

"Sure, sounds good," he told her. They changed direction and started heading towards her house. Jackie didn't say a word for the rest of the walk and Matt didn't try to prompt conversation because he understood how hard this must have been for her, even after all these years. It was hard for him too. It felt like they were traveling back in time to that horrible day. Jackie lived very close to the school so it took less than ten silent minutes to reach to her place.

She fumbled with her keys as she tried to open the front door. After a minute of this, Matt gently took the keys from her and unlocked the door. He handed the key ring back to her and waited for her to open the door. He wanted her to lead to way; after all it was her house and he wanted her to be confident in it. As he waited for her to step into the small foyer, Matt contemplated how long it been since he last had been here. He'd been such a little kid, barely through his first year of middle school. So much had happened since then: he had endured almost three years of high school, he was taking pre-calculus, he had a girlfriend. He looked fondly over at Jackie and took her hand. Gaining courage from this human connection, she led Matt into the house.

Directly in front of them were the stairs leading up to the second story, where Jackie's bedroom was. They both nervously avoided looking in that direction. The house was perfectly quiet. Jackie's parents were both still at work, so the teens were there alone.

Jackie broke the silence. "Do you want anything to eat?" Before he could answer, she started walking towards the kitchen at the back of the house.

"Um, sure. What do you have?" Matt asked as he followed her, distancing himself from the stairs at the front of the house.

Once Jackie reached the kitchen, she began to busy herself with making sandwiches. Her boyfriend offered to help, but she refused it. With nothing else to do, he sat awkwardly down at the kitchen table. He tried to start a conversation, but Jackie ignored him and kept preparing the food.

When she was finished, she brought over two cans of root beer and two plates of sandwiches and chips.

"Why don't we bring this upstairs?" she suggested suddenly. Matt glanced towards her, slightly shocked by this sudden change in attitude, but he went with it. He wanted Jackie to know that he had her back. Matt couldn't show her that he was nervous; it might cause her confidence to falter.

They grabbed their plates and sodas and walked back to the foyer. Jackie seemed very sure of herself until they got to the bottom of the stairs. She stopped there for a moment, but then quickly started up the steps. Matt followed, a little unnerved about being so close to the spot where their lives had fallen apart. They were so close to putting the pieces back together; he wasn't sure he was ready for this. But Jackie seemed to be and he needed to be there for her, like she had been for him in the beginning.

Immediately after "The Incident" had happened, Jackie had been so strong and had helped him through the recurring bouts of agony and regret. She understood that Matt blamed himself for what happened so she buried her own sadness in order to help him through it. It took Matt a long time to realize this. _Now, _he thought, _I'm going to help _her_ through this, even if I'm not ready myself._

Jackie led Matt down the familiar hallway. Matt felt as though he were reliving that awful day once again. It seemed almost like a dream. When they reached her bedroom door, images of the two of them mourning on Jackie's floor began to flicker inside Matt's head. But, when she opened the door, the entire room had changed.

It was very different from the tween room he had remembered. Now it was very plain and boring. The walls were bare and there was very little in the room other than some simple furniture. Clearly Jackie didn't like spending time in here. He couldn't blame her. Feeling uncomfortable, he sat on the edge of the bed and put his food on the nightstand next to the alarm clock. Jackie sat in the desk chair. Matt couldn't help feeling that they were retracing the steps of that terrible day in reverse.

They ate their snack and talked about school. Matt told Jackie about a failed English test that he was worried about showing to his parents. Everything was going quite normally until the laptop sitting on the desk behind Jackie started to glow a faint pink.

Matt motioned for Jackie to turn around. They were shocked; they hadn't seen this happen in years. They both watched in silence as the portal became larger and larger.

Matt wasn't sure how he felt about the turn of events. There were days that he missed their childhood adventures in Cyberspace, but that last trip had marred it for him. He was so close to getting over it and now this?! It seemed like terrible timing. Jackie clutched Matt's hand for support and squeezed it hard.

Before either of them could say a single thing to each other, the portal had grown large enough to forcibly suck them out of the room.

* * *

"I'm not so sure about this," Digit told Motherboard. "This could just complicate things."

"Digit's right. What if Hacker gets them too? It'll just give him more leverage over us," a nineteen-year-old cyborg tried to tell her.

"It can't...get any...worse...than it...already is...Slider," she explained to him.

Slider disagreed. "It'll ruin their lives! Why bother bringing them back, when we might just lose them like we lost Inez!" he yelled at her. He understood Motherboard was scared, but it didn't justify bringing the Earthlies back. They were fighting a lost cause and Matt and Jackie didn't deserve to have their lives torn apart a second time.

"It...doesn't matter," Motherboard told them. "I've...already...sent for them."

"What!" Digit and Slider shouted in unison. An older bot heard this outburst from the next room and came to see what was happening.

"What is going on here?" asked Dr. Marbles. He looked tired; he'd worn himself out these past few years, defending Motherboard from Hacker's unceasing attacks.

"Motherboard's sent for the Earth kids," Slider explained angrily to the aging doctor.

"You mean Matt and...?" Marbles said, searching his memory for the girl's name.

"Jackie," Digit piped in.

"Yeah, Motherboard's called them up from their world as a last ditch effort to save Cyberspace," Slider said.

"But, Motherboard, you said that if we ever needed them again, that you and I would discuss it together," said Dr. Marbles, outraged.

Before Motherboard could justify her actions, a large portal appeared in the center of the room. Jackie and Matt tumbled out of it and onto the floor of control central.


	4. Chapter 4

"What the hell!" yelled Jackie as she picked herself up off the floor. "Just as we're starting to get over this whole mess; you bring us back?!"

Matt got up and slowly backed away from his furious girlfriend. He knew better than to be anywhere near her when she got this mad.

While Jackie berated Digit, Dr. Marbles and Motherboard for dragging them back to Cyberspace, Matt noticed Slider standing off to the side.

Matt was shocked by how different he looked, though he was still easy to recognize. In his memory, Slider had stayed the same thirteen-year-old kid that he'd known six years ago. But, now Slider was an adult, at least by Earth standards. He looked to be about eighteen or nineteen. He still dressed like a typical Radopolis skater: baggy blue jeans, a loose red t-shirt, oversized black hoodie and black hi-tops. His wavy, longish, medium-brown hair was messy.

Matt walked over to him.

"Slider, what's the deal here?" he asked.

"Motherboard's been fighting Hacker, Wicked and Ledge since you two left. She-"

Matt interrupted him. "They're all working together?" He didn't remember the three of them getting along all that well when he'd been in Cyberspace.

"Sometimes. Right now Hacker and Ledge have teamed up and Wicked's brewing up something by herself," Slider answered.

"When Jaks and I left, Ledge and Hacker hated each other," Matt recalled.

"Yeah...well, since then, the two of them have made and broken dozens of truces. Wicked has too. A lot can happen in six years," Slider told him.

"Six years?" Matt was confused. Cyberspace's time used to move separately from Earth's.

"Yeah, six long, hard years, almost to the day." Slider answered. Before Matt could question Slider more, the boys were distracted by a loud outburst.

"What were you thinking?!" Jackie yelled. "You can't just tear people out of their lives! Not without at least telling them first!" Jackie was starting to tear up. Returning to Cyberspace had unlocked a whole well of emotion that she'd been trying to bury for years. She didn't want anyone to see her weakness, so she tried hiding it under her unbridled rage.

"Don't any of you have anything to say about this?!" Jackie demanded, looking accusingly around the room at Motherboard, Dr. Marbles, Digit and Slider.

Everything was quiet for a moment. All that could be heard was low hum of Motherboard's generator.

Marbles broke the silence. "Well, I can assure you that I have nothing to do with this. I didn't know anything about it until I walked in only moments ago." The Doctor looked sourly at Motherboard. "And I will continue to stay out of it until the rest of you reach a consensus in regards to moving forward." With that, Dr. Marbles stormed out of the room.

After the Doctor was gone, Slider stepped forward.

"Jackie...Didge and I are real sorry about all this. We tried to talk Motherboard out of it," he explained. "We tried to get her to try something, anything else. We didn't realize that she was in the process of getting you guys...until it was too late."

"Yeah," Digit agreed. "We wouldn't have brought you here without asking."

"It's just everything's gone to shit since you left," Slider added. "Motherboard's lost control of most of Cyberspace and..."

"What?!" the two Earth teens shouted with shock.

"How is that even possible?" Jackie asked with disbelief.

"Well..." Digit started uncomfortably. "When Hacker beat us in the skate-off and won Radopolis, it gave him a bit of a confidence boost."

"He started taking over cybersites right and left," Slider cut in. "After not too long, Wicked and Ledge joined in on the fun," he said sarcastically. "Between the three of them, we didn't stand a chance. Now we only have a few cybersites left under our command."

"That's awful," said Jackie, suddenly feeling a little guilty. She was starting to see why Motherboard was so desperate. _But, it still doesn't give her the right to wreck our lives, _she thought bitterly.

Jackie turned to Motherboard, who had been silently watching group tear her apart.

"What _do_ you expect us to do anyway?" she asked, curiously.

"I want...you to...find out...what...Hacker...is up to," Motherboard told her.

"How the hell do you expect us to do that?!" demanded Matt. "We haven't been here in years. Everything's different now."

"You two...are smart," said Motherboard. "You'll...figure...it out."

"What are you talking about?! We were never the smart ones," Jackie shouted. "That was always Inez," she added quietly.

"You were...all smart...in your...own ways," Motherboard told the two of them.

"But, I'm not smart," Jackie insisted. "I'm failing out of most of my classes right now!" she yelled.

The room got incredibly silent. Matt was confused; this was first he'd heard of Jackie's school troubles. He wondered why she hadn't told him. _Doesn't she trust me? _he asked himself. _I'd never mention her grades to anyone._

Motherboard's voice filled the quiet room. "I want...you both...to go to...Radopolis...and spy on...Hacker," she said, completely disregarding Jackie's previous complaints. "Digit...and Slider...will go with you."

"We will?" Slider asked, taken aback.

"Yes," said Motherboard. "It is...too dangerous...for them...to go...alone."

Slider rolled his eyes at this. "Too Dangerous?!" he yelled. "This is exactly why I told you not to bring them here in the first place! I'm okay with going, but that's because Cyberspace is my world. It's not theirs. This isn't their fight."

"Yeah," Digit said. "Why don't you just send them home?"

Motherboard had considered this before. She turned to Matt and Jackie. "Do you...want to...go home?" she asked.

Matt and Jackie exchanged glances. Jackie was silent, so Matt steeled himself to answer.

After taking a breath, he said: "Yes. We'd love to help you guys, but Jaks and I have to do what makes sense for us...and this doesn't. Not now, not after what happened to Inez. You didn't see how sad her parents were. We can't do that to our own folks. Sorry, we just can't do this."

Matt really was sorry. He wanted to help Digit and Slider and the rest of Cyberspace, but not at the risk of his and his family's happiness. Like Slider said: _This isn't our fight. _

Still, he did feel bad. This whole thing _was_ the result of a stupid bet he'd made with Hacker when he was eleven. _But, _he rationalized, _Motherboard was one who put the fate of this whole world into the hands of some random kids. _It wasn't completely his fault, some of the blame belonged to her.

Feeling that an awkward silence had lingered too long, Jackie spoke up. "So...are you going to send us back?"

Motherboard thought for a moment. "I...suppose...I should...shouldn't I?"

Jackie gave Matt a weak half-smile, relieved to have gotten the whole thing over with quickly. But before they could celebrate their small victory, the room shook.

"What was that?!" Jackie shouted as Slider ran over to Motherboard's control panel.

He typed furiously at the keyboard, skimming dozens of folders and programs in a matter of seconds. After a few tense minutes of silence, Slider uncovered the source of the problem.

"Somebody sent Motherboard a new virus," he told the anxious group.

"How's that possible?" Matt asked. "I thought she had a firewall or something."

"She does, but it's not very strong," Slider explained. "It's been weakened by almost daily attacks. None of them have gotten through, but they've slowly been destroying the security system." He sighed, exasperated. "This one was able to get through, because the other viruses paved a way for it."

"Well, what did the virus do?" Jackie asked, confused. "Mother B looks fine."

Slider braced himself; unsure of how to break the news of the virus's damage. "It seems like the virus only affected one small part of Motherboard's hard drive."

"That's great!" Jackie said. She was thrilled, but when she looked at Slider she saw that he was visibly upset. She didn't understand. He should have been happy that so little harm had been done to Motherboard. "Isn't it?" she asked. Suddenly, she began to worry about _which _part of Motherboard had been attacked.

Slider took a deep breath. "Well..." he started, "Motherboard will still be able to do everything she needs to...except make portals." The young cyborg almost whispered those last three words.

"What do you mean?!" Matt yelled.

_This can't be happening, _he thought. Every time Matt assumed he was done with Cyberspace, something like this happened. He was furious. "Who sent the virus?!" he demanded.

Slider typed some at the keyboard before answering. "It came from Hacker's ship, but it's not the sort of thing he'd come up with. I think Ledge sent it."

"Well, how do we fix it?" asked Jackie frantically. She was eager to repair Motherboard so she and Matt could return home.

"Um...I'm not really sure," Slider told her with uncertainty. "Maybe we should ask Marbles. He should know what to do," Slider suggested. "Didge?" he said and gestured for Digit to get to get the Doctor.

"I'm on it!" Digit shouted and flew off without another word.

While Digit was getting Dr. Marbles, Matt took a moment to truly take in his surroundings, using this distraction to keep his emotions in check. The room looked almost the way it had six years before. Matt noticed a hallway off the right. It suddenly dawned on him that he'd never been beyond this first room. In all the times he'd visited Cyberspace, he'd never seen the rest of it. He turned to check on Jackie and found that she was occupying herself by talking to Motherboard. Matt only heard a snippet of the conversation, but it seemed as though Motherboard was venting to Jackie.

_She's so good with people, _Matt thought. Jackie was always ready to help talk people through their problems, but she never wanted to deal with her own. That's why she had locked up her feelings about Inez for so long.

_Maybe, _he speculated, _she would have opened up to me if I weren't so weak._

Matt found it hard to stop beating himself up about what happened. He did it frequently; almost every day in the months that followed the incident. He hated himself for his part in it. He knew he shouldn't, but he did.

Like Jackie, after so many years, Matt had been beginning to heal when Motherboard had selfishly pulled them through the portal. Now, all those buried feelings were rising back to the surface. Matt was outraged at the injustice that he felt Motherboard had committed by dragging them back against their wills.

And yet, he felt a little bit excited. It was almost nice to be back there, in Control Central. Last time he and Jackie were there, it was because a dreadful shift had occurred in their lives. He wondered if this time, things might alter themselves for the better. Matt shook off the foolish, hopeful thought. He reminded himself that he and Jackie were going home as soon as Marbles fixed Motherboard.

Now that all the excitement had died down, Matt was beginning to grow bored. He decided to slip away and explore Control Central while the others waited for Digit to come back with Marbles. He turned to the hallway he had previously discovered and started down it.

The hallway was plain. It was painted an uninteresting off-white and lacked any decoration. Matt thought it was almost clinical in appearance. He passed several identical doors without any desire to enter them. He walked down it for what seemed like quite a while. It made a sharp turn and Matt could no longer see the main room getting smaller behind him. Soon, he came across a door that was unlike the others that flanked the long hallway. 

It was made distinct by a crude coat of red paint. Matt felt drawn to the door and opened it cautiously; nervous about being caught snooping so far from the front room. He wasn't sure what he thought he would find behind the crimson door, but it was a far cry from what he discovered: a messy bedroom.

It was so different from the rest of the clean, organized Control Central. From the unmade bed and discarded t-shirts and jeans to the scattered schematics and machine parts, it was everything that the rest of the cybersite wasn't. It was sloppy, chaotic and haphazard. Matt felt uncomfortable trespassing, but nevertheless took a few more steps into the small room.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" asked a voice behind him, making Matt jump. He whirled around to face the speaker.

"Oh, Slider," he stammered, embarrassed at being caught poking around somebody else's stuff. "What're you doing here?"

"It's _my _room," Slider said defensively. "I was getting my toolbox for Dr. Marbles," he said, pointing to a rusted metal case peeking out from beneath the disheveled bed.

"Oh," said Matt, uncomfortably. He quickly grabbed the box and handed it to Slider. "Has Marble's figured out how to fix Motherboard yet?" he asked, trying to draw attention away from the trespassing.

"No, he was still working on it when I left," Slider said, shifting his weight under the heavy toolbox. "He said he might need some tools so I came and got mine."

Without another word, Slider began his way back down the long hallway, hindered by the heavy box. Matt followed, feeling too awkward to linger any longer in Slider's room.

"So," Matt started, "you really live in Control Central?"

"Well, yeah," Slider said sadly. "I can't exactly go home, can I?"

"Oh, right." Matt said, reminded once again of his grievous mistake. "I guess you can't." The silence that followed was suffocating, but Matt couldn't think of any way to end it. The two young men traveled the rest of the way back without saying anything more.

When they returned, they found the others waiting for them. Jackie ran up to Matt the moment she saw him.

"The Doctor's finished looking over the virus," she said, talking very fast. "But, he hasn't told us anything. He was waiting for you and Slider. Where were you, anyway?"

Before Matt could answer, Marbles called for the small group's attention.

"Well, I've analyzed the virus and it's very complicated. I may be able to fix it, but it could take me a very long time," Dr. Marbles explained.

"So basically what you're saying is that you don't know how to fix it," Matt accused.

Marbles thought for a moment before admitting the truth. "Yes, I don't _currently _have any idea as to how to remedy the situation. Maybe if I had access to the computer that sent it or some notes about how it was made...but working from scratch, it'll be a very tedious process."

Jackie was crushed. She'd been so close to going home and being free from this nightmare. She tried to maintain her resolve, but she couldn't help letting one single tear fall. She quickly wiped it away, but not before Matt and the Doctor saw. Matt put his arms around Jackie to support her.

Marbles quickly tried to reassure the girl. "That doesn't mean I can't do it," he told her, "it just might take a while if I have nothing to go on."

"How long will it take?" Matt asked wearily.

"Well," said Dr. Marbles, "it could take very long time. I still haven't healed Motherboard's first virus."

"So, potentially, they could be stuck here forever," Slider said.

"Um, yes," said Marbles.

"Just like Inez," Jackie whispered to herself. Matt heard and held her closer. This was his chance to finally be there for Jackie, like she had for him. But Jackie refused to be a victim.

"What if we get Ledge's notes about the virus?" she said with renewed courage. "Would you be able to fix it then?"

Marbles was stunned, as were the others, especially Matt.

_She really is the stronger of the two of us, _he thought, _I wish I was confident like that._

"Jaks are you sure about this?" Matt asked warily; he thought she was being a bit rash. The boy searched his girlfriend's face for any sign of uncertainty. All he found was a mask of determination and something like fear that she was trying to hide beneath it.

The girl braced herself, taking a deep breath to calm her raging emotions, before answering. "I'm sure," she said with a weak grin. She took another breath to steady her weak nerves.

"Matt," she said with a sigh, "I don't want to be stuck here...and I'm sure you don't either. We've got a whole life back on Earth."

"I know," Matt told her gently, "but I don't want anything to happen to you."

"Then, you should be anxious to get this over with. I'd rather die than spend the rest of my life knowing that I belong somewhere else," she tried to explain.

"I get that, really I do," he said hastily, "I'm just not sure you've thought this through."

"I have thought this through," Jackie said, her voice rising in anger, "I'm doing this with or without you!"

Matt, still overcome by the violent outburst, resigned. He had absolutely no idea how to talk Jackie out of her impulsive decision. He wanted to protect her, but didn't how other than to follow her by following her in this and hoping for the best.

"Fine! I'll go with you," Matt told her. It suddenly occurred to him that without portals, they'd have to find another method of transportation.

At that moment, as though she had been reading his thoughts, Motherboard spoke. "You will...have to...go by...hovercar." she told the two teenagers.

From within her over-sized computer screen, Motherboard shifted her gaze to Digit and Slider who had been trying to stay out Matt and Jackie's fight. Slider shifted nervously under her piercing eyes.

"Digit?" she said.

"Yes, Motherboard?" he said eagerly.

"I want...you and...Slider to...go with...the Earthlies." she told him before switching her focus back to the Earth teens. "You two...are...once again...strangers...to cyberspace. I...don't want...you to...go off...on...your own." Motherboard explained.

"Fine." Jackie said with an eyeroll.

_We don't need babysitters, _she thought disparagingly, _they'll only get in the way. _She wanted to get back home as soon as conceivably possible.

Matt, however, was secretly grateful to have Digit and Slider along. It was a reassuring thought to have the two cyberspace natives along to guide them. Though, he wished it were Inez who was coming along instead of Slider.

_Stupid! _Matt chided himself, _if Inez were here, we wouldn't be in this mess. All this is my fault!_

"Well," Slider said, breaking Matt out of his self-loathing reflection. "We'd better get the ship ready to take off."

Dr. Marbles offered to help Slider with the preparations and they both went off to the garage of Control Central together. While Slider and the Doctor were busy with the ship, Digit dashed around gathering supplies for their trip. Motherboard had to prompt him several times before he finally remembered where Slider kept the Squak Pads.

Digit retrieved four of them, one for each of them. They were slightly different from the one Matt had when he was eleven. These ones were smaller and less bulky, similar to an iPhone except for the violet color, attached pen and irregular shape.

"Why'd you get four out?" Matt asked. "Don't you and Slider already have some?"

"No," Digit responded, "We haven't needed them until now."

"How come?" Matt inquired.

"We usually just monitor the war from here. We haven't needed to leave," Digit explained, "It's too dangerous."

Matt was unnerved by this comment. It reminded him of how serious the situation was. Of how dramatically Cyberspace contrasted with his safe life in his home world.

The fear must have shown on Matt's face.

"We should be fine, though," Digit added quickly.

This line of conversation broke off when Dr. Marbles walked into room. He was filthy and covered in oil from working on the hover car. He gave a small wave to greet Digit and the Earthlies.

"The ship's ready," he told them, "Slider's waiting for you to take off."

"About time," Jackie said impatiently under her breath.

"Um, Digit knows the way to the garage." Marbles said, unsure of what else to say. "Good luck!" he added, with a bit of false enthusiasm.

As Jackie and Matt followed Digit out of the room, the Doctor thought sadly to himself: _I do hope we don't lose these ones too._


End file.
